Deliverance Minister Under Fire for Claiming Kids With Autism Are Demon-Possessed
Pastor Rick Morrow of Beulah Church in Richland, MO, is under fire for claiming that that children with autism are demon-possessed, as God does not and would not make them that way, leaving only Satan the culprit for their condition.
Morrow told his congregation during a Q & A session about ‘deliverance’:
This is very crucial. If someone has a physical infirmity and you cast that demon out, you might have to pray for some things to be fixed. Let’s talk about one. Let’s talk about autism.
I know a minister who has seen lots of kids that are autistic that he cast that demon out and they were healed, and then he had to pray. And their brain was rewired and they were fixed.
Yeah I just went there. I mean you can get online and see lots of examples of it. If it’s not demonic, then we have to say God made them that way.
Like, that’s the only other explanation.“Why (does) my kid have autism?” Well, either the Devil’s attacked them, he’s brought this infirmity upon them, he’s got them where he wants them, and/or God just doesn’t like them very much and he made them that way.
Well, my God doesn’t make junk. God doesn’t make mess-ups. God doesn’t make people that way.So let’s quit being nice and putting a band-aid on stuff and giving it medicine…quit putting a band-aid on it and saying “oh, it’ll be ok, we just need to treat this or treat that”
How about you just cast the demon out and then treat all the problems?
The idea that autism is caused by demon possession is a common claim by deliverance ministers. Pastor Greg Locke of Global Vision Bible Church has made similar claims, and Isaiah Saldivar has suggested that people should cast demons out of themselves and family members every few months to keep their hearts and minds clean and oppression-free.
Of course, carried to its logical conclusion, Morrow would have to say all congenital disabilities are caused by demonic possession. Not only mental disorders like Down Syndrome, but also physical ailments like missing limbs, cleft palates, congenital heart defects, hypothyroidism, and clubfoot since “God doesn’t make junk. God doesn’t make mess-ups. God doesn’t make people that way.”
Yet when Moses objected that he could not lead Israel because he was “slow of speech and tongue” the Lord retorted “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Furthermore, when Jesus encountered the Blind man in John 9, he told his disciples “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.
Morrow’s view on the matter is incoherent and unbiblical, which is sadly not uncommon for folks who dabble in deliverance without discernment.
Bonus: Also, for the record. Because demon possession is the “only other explanation,” we’d be curious about how these fetuses and babies came to be possessed by the demons that did this to them. First trimester? Second? How did the demons come to muck about with the minds of these autistic kids? Pre-womb or post womb? There are so many questions and and so few satisfactory answers.
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Looks like Rick Morrow is following the James White ‘tattooed arm’ philosophy 😂